Married!!

I finally got married!! Yaaaaaaaay!!

It was super fun, very romantic, a bit stressful and my I decided to wear my hair in a way I've never ever done before,  but I wouldn't change a thing!

My mom and dad made everything so special and fun for Tyler & I. We feel so lucky!! Here are a few pics!

A couple of books

More often than not I pass along books after I read them, but here are few I've recently finished that I still have & thought were worth sharing...

The New Yorker Book of Dogs
 - you guessed it, dog related short stories from the magazine

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James (Thanks mom!)
 - What's better than a Jane Austen book? Actual memoirs of Jane Austen's life!

On Becoming Fearless by Arianna Huffington
 - a great inspirational book about work and life!

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
 - about a Dominican boy growing up in Jersey obsessed with falling in love, science fiction and the curse that has plagued his family for generations. 

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
 - (I just read this again.) Peter Mayle's adventure of moving to France, living in a 200 year old stone farmhouse and delighting in the regional cuisine.

What should I read next?????????????????????

More birthday celebration pictures!

Looking beautiful at 90!



    

Good News!

Hello everyone!

We have good news to share! Ryan has been hired for an exciting new job. He'll be starting Monday as Project Coordinator at Security-Luebke Roofing. http://www.ribblegroup.com/ Six weeks ago he lost his job of 13 years due to downsizing. It came as a complete and utter shock but we feel so blessed that Ryan has this new opportunity. In this economy, job market and also heading into winter (typically a slow time in the construction/roofing industry) this is a very short time to be unemployed and to land such a great job is amazing! This company is growing and very progressive -- in fact, they weren't advertising for an opening. Ryan sent his resume to all the area companies he was interested in working for. Security Roofing was planning to hire a new manager at some point in the near future, and when they received his resume, they called him, went through the whole interview process and the rest is history! As difficult as this journey has been, we have felt through this whole ordeal that God has a grand plan and we just need to trust that everything will work out the way it's meant to be. We are looking forward to this new chapter and are so thankful for the love and support of family!

Love, Joy

Paid

Ken and I paid off our mortgage this week. Yay!! This house, garage, carriage house and four acres of woods is all ours. It is a good feeling.

WANTED

Has anybody seen these two????

The man that I love.....

Ken and I had a good time on Saturday cutting down and burning ash trees that are being destroyed by the Emerald Ash Borer. They have to be burned and we probably still have over a hundred yet to go. This was the start of the fire, but it got much, much bigger and we added the trees.

Visiting

I visited Ryan and his family yesterday and it was a lot of fun.


Two handsome guys....

Joy made us an delicious apple crisp...yum.

He Man..helping Dad dismantle the bar.

Legion

A legion of mushrooms guarding our lawn

Baritone Boy

Adam is so excited to be starting band this year!

This past summer we made a visit to the music store to try out all the instruments and his face lit up when he tried the baritone! I knew this was the instrument for him instantly. The band director gave me a baritone to bring home for him while I was volunteering at school and he was thrilled when he got home and discovered it!

He sounds amazing!

Life is Good

We have a potential buyer for our home! After seeing many homes this family wants to buy ours -- they just need to finalize the financing with their bank. Hope all goes well!

We are so happy in our new home! I've always dreamed of a neighborhood with lots of kids for our boys to play with and a feeling of safety where we are comfortable letting them go. We've definitely found it! On Sunday there were about 12 neighborhood kids engaged in a water balloon battle with our backyard as one of their bases -- they take it seriously! Adam had the wagon out and was pulling a friend and a giant pail of balloons down the street ready for war. There were kids everywhere and lots of smiles and laughter! At one point they were all in our basement making a movie together and I was loving it! There's nothing like the sound of kid's laughter to make me happy. The families on our quiet cul-de-sac are wonderful and there is such a sense of community with everyone looking out for each other's children.

Adam starts band this fall and tried out some instruments today at our local music store. He tried the trumpet, trombone and baritone. His face lit up when he was handed the baritone and I knew instantly that was his choice. He tooted on it for awhile and could barely stop smiling. He's excited to get started! I fell in love with a ukulele I saw there -- it was so much fun to play. If I get one I plan to learn to play "Mele Kalikimaka" for our Christmas sing-a-long!

Love to everyone!
Joy

Sitting here.....

I am sitting here today wishing my pneumonia would just go away. I am responding to the second medication, but I have a way to go.

New canopy

Tracy, you inspired me to buy a Shade Tech and it works well to keep both the sun and the rain off our front deck. The kitties are enjoying it too.

Missing you......

I am missing my honey....we haven't seen each other for two weeks. He will be home tomorrow night from Massachusetts.....Yay!

Congratulations Carlsons

Congratulations happy family. May God bless you in your new home and may it be filled with love and happy memories.

The Queen of the castle

The King (Ryan means king) coming home to his castle and his awaiting Queen.

What strong and capable movers......and they were so much fun.

Isaac, I love your room. It has personality....... and so do you!

Joy, I must admit....I have a serious case of tub envy.....enjoy!

2010 Ping Pong Olympics

Firstly, I want to thank Joy for organizing the 2010 family camping (a.k.a. Cousins Camping).  It was so nice to be able to drive up and not have to worry about anything.  That was a real gift to me!  Joy also started a fantastic tradition - The Ping Pong Olympics. It was a blast.  We were having so much fun that the folks at the campsite across the road asked us if they could buy a ping pong ball from us because they wanted to partake in the games as well!  Like a great sportswoman, Joy gave them the ping pong ball free of charge!  Way to represent Joy.  They returned the ping pong ball in the morning and insisted we also take their professional grade orange ping pong ball. I love the community in action.  In the picture above Ryan and I were trying to bounce the ping pong into the plastic cups from a fixed distance.  The ping pong ball had to bounce once before it entered into the cup.  We then had to retrieve our own balls.  It was a battle to the end when I had a lucky hop off of a piece of gravel and landed the ball in my cup.  Victory!

Adam and Isaac had a great competition trying to blow the floating ping pong ball in one cup into another.  Isaac made swift work when he landed the ball in with a huge breath like that of a dragon! 

Linda must have been practicing this at home - look at her technique.  She edged out Carol but Carol received the best splash caught on film award! 

Umm.  What kind of face is that?  Ryan schooled me in one swift blow.

 

Winner!  Addy!

Faith really held her own!  She loved her prize:  beautiful smelling lotion!

Look at the concentration on Adam's face - it is unparalleled.

Winner! Joy!